As this has been asked on several occasions I thought it would be wise to explain the background to the VW 505.01 oil and why it's so important to use it in a PD engine.

It is vitally important to use a PD oil in the PD engine due to the pump.

The VW pd engines are very severe on the oil, the mechanical fuel pump delivers fuel at approx. 25,000 psi !!!!! to enable a very precise injector spray pattern which, in turn, gives excellent driving characteristics.

The very high loads on the fuel pump will lead to VI improver shear down and oil viscosity loss if the engine is operated on lesser oils.

The surest way to shorten the life of your engine is to ignore this advice.

Cheers

Guy

Do all VW group dealers know this? I'm sure my Polo was filled with "normal" stuff on its 20k service. And I was given the leftovers of some Castrol GTX Magnatec which is 505.00 (but not 505.01) approved after one service.

Luckily I have some Quantum PD oil from another kind dealer

Do all VW group dealers know this?

Anecdotal evidence on Briskoda would seem to indicate that some don't! :(

Or......No.

Do all VW group dealers know this?

When I went to get oil for my Fabia vRS I was asked "Is that a diesel engine?"

So let's not ask them to run (getting the right oil) before they can walk (getting the right engine)! :P :P

In my experience, many Dealers know "didly" about oil which is incomprehensible as VW use codes to denote the correct one!

Cheers

Guy

Will definitely keep an eye on it

Certainly when the PD oils and later the AVS oils were introduced - the information coming from VAG was crap - we were lucky in that our Shell rep had all the info and came and gave us a little presentation covering what you can and cant use.

But really there is now excuse now - when the service sheets are generated(electronicaly) the engine code is entered - the service sheet then tells you which oil to use!! - so you'd have to be really stupid to get it wrong.

This was the bulletin issued by Fuchs concerning the PD oil and explanation:

TECHNICAL BULLETIN

TITAN SUPERSYN SL PD SAE 5W/40

The Volkswagen / Audi 1.9 litre (115bhp) and 2.5 litre (150bhp) turbocharged, Pumpe Duse diesel engines, fitted to late model cars are proving to be very popular with both private and fleet buyers. The engines deliver very high torque with little or no increase in fuel consumption compared to earlier engine variants.

The engines have proved to be very severe on the service oil, and have given serious wear problems when operated on even high quality oils which have been developed for less demanding applications.

To overcome this problem, VW have released a new specification, VW 505.01, supported by appropriate engine tests. Use of VW 505.01 approved oils is mandatory for warranty maintenance on these engines.

Fuchs Titan Supersyn SL PD SAE 5W/40 is fully approved against this specification.

The product features an increase in detergent / dispersant activity, improved corrosion resistance, and a more shear stable VI improver for better viscosity retention, when compared to VW 500.00 / 502.00 / 505.00 products such as Titan Supersyn SL SAE 5W/40.

Here's the data sheet:

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/TechSpecs/titan%20supersyn%20sl%20pd%20sae%205w_40.pdf

Cheers

Simon

What would be the situation if a Skoda dealer serviced the car and put in the wrong oil? I'm guessing Skoda UK would not allow for a warranty claim in those circumstances, but I sure would not be prepared to foot the bill myself if the dealer went wrong ?

Suppose I'll have to ask when I get it changed

Also - as the car is delivered with other oil, what is the impact of that then? Getting a little worried about all this, considering I need this car to last

If you took your car to say "Burt" who may have his little garage under the arches and he puts in some duckhams from his big 205ltr drum in then you would have no come back.

However surely if you took a Skoda to a Skoda dealer then if they went wrong then surely they are accountable, warrenty or not as they are the authorised dealer or people to work on your car.